Ki Teitzei: When You Go Out as a Warrior
Parashat Ki Teitzei includes a rich and varied collection of directives that serve as a partial blueprint for behaviors and norms to create the emerging covenantal culture. As Professor Adele Berlin notes, “Issues pertaining to women are prominent in this parashah. . . .
Noah and How We Live with One Another in Our Time
Every few years we are treated to the same news item. It proclaims breathlessly that a new expedition to Mount Ararat has located remains of Noah's ark. Of course, it always turns out that the boat was not found after all, and future reports will run the same course.
The Creative Power of Words
"Sticks and stones," the nursery rhyme says, "may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." The intent of this pithy statement is probably to help children solve disputes with words rather than physical violence. Its message does, however, raise serious doubts. Words can and do hurt us.
Strange Fruit
After seeing the infamous 1930 photograph by Lawrence Beitler, which depicts the mob lynching of two young black men, a Jewish high school teacher named Abel Meeropol wrote a haunting poem titled "Strange Fruit." The poem was first published in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magaz
L’arche ou le Triomphe?
In Parashat Noach, the Torah builds on the founding myths of Parashat B’reishit by showing us a fascinating cycle of destruction and rebuilding, speaking both to the immense positive power of human planning and execution, and to the inherent negative possibilities that come with it.
Discovering Your Real Name
Our tradition teaches that each of us has three names: the one we are given at birth, the one we are called, and our real name. The task of each person, according to the tradition, is to discover our real name.